Description

From the bestselling authors of The Southerner's Handbook, Good Dog, and The Southerner's Cookbook comes a lively compendium of Southern tradition and contemporary culture.

The American South is a multifaceted region with its own vocabulary, peculiarities, and cultural touchstones. Even for those born in the South, the unspoken rules--layered in local nuances and complexities--can sometimes be confounding. Tennessee whiskey may technically be bourbon, but don't let anyone in Kentucky hear you call it that. And bless your heart, don't you dare make the mistake of confusing a magnolia blossom with a Japanese tulip.

Now, from the editors of Garden & Gun--the magazine known as "the soul of the South"--comes this encyclopedia of Southern living, culture, and history. Covering age-old traditions and current zeitgeists, S Is for Southern includes more than 500 entries spanning every letter of the alphabet, from absinthe to zydeco. The book also includes 100 signature essays from notable Southern writers, including:

Jon Meacham on the Civil War

Sean Brock on Waffle House

Roy Blount, Jr. on humidity

Jessica B. Harris on field peas

Jason Isbell on the Atlanta Braves

Jack Hitt on pluff mud

The Lee Brothers on boiled peanuts

Jonathan Miles on Larry Brown

Julia Reed on the Delta

Informative and irreverent, illustrated with black-and-white line drawings throughout, S Is for Southern celebrates and demystifies the traditions of the South, and is a must-read for all fans of the region and culture enthusiasts.